The first radio station in Fayetteville, WFNC, was granted a license from the Federal Radio Commission in 1939. The owner was Wall Christian Ewing who, at the time, also owned a wholesale fertilizer business in the city. He had also been the Chairman of the Cumberland County Democratic Party. and had spent time serving in the North Carolina legislature.

For almost 80 years, North Carolina business owners have depended on local radio stations to successfully market their goods and services through depressions, recessions, wars, and natural disasters. Even now, during a pandemic, advertising on Fayetteville radio remains a dependable way to make cash registers ring.

Here are five facts every Fayetteville small business owner needs to know about local radio in 2020.

Fayetteville radio reaches more area adults every week than any other medium. During a typical seven-day period, according to Nielsen, 327,293 local consumers tune-in to their favorite AM and FM stations. This is significantly more than those who watch broadcast television, subscribe to pay-TV, browse social media, read a newspaper, or stream music from Pandora and Spotify.

Radio's omnipresence in the life of Fayetteville consumers is remarkable considering today is the medium's 100th birthday.